A Mazoku's Tastes
by Songwind
Summary: Lina & Xel discuss how emotions taste to a Mazoku. X/L, a lil angst, lil romance, etc, etc, etc. Please review and enjoy!


A Mazoku's Tastes  
By Songwind  
Notes- Um, yeah, if you haven't noticed yet, Xellos is my favorite male character in Slayers. Anyway, Lina has a discussion with Xellos about the tastes of emotions according to a Mazoku. Please enjoy. Warning, some X/L. But no, nothing really goes on besides talking. Sorry to disappoint you. ^_^  
DISCLAIMER- Sadly, I don't own Slayers, and I've never had the luck to meet Xellos or any of the other characters.   
  
~*~  
  
I swung my legs as I looked thoughtfully at the tree in front of me, waiting. It was nighttime, and for once I was completely alone. Gourry was back at camp snoring his rear off with a chicken leg still in his hand. Hey, I don't eat cold food, OK? I like my food nice and hot. But anyway, there I was sitting there, a question bubbling in the back of my mind.  
  
Actually, it'd been there for quite some time, probably since we found out that Xellos was a Mazoku and hated it when Amelia sang about happiness. Honestly, though, we could have used that information beforehand. It would have been very nice to have just done that to catch a certain few Mazoku earlier on off guard with that, then get rid of them. Like those Mazoku that tried to take over Seyruun...  
  
I noticed my heels were getting sore from kicking the boulder I sat on so hard, and stopped. Waiting never was fun for me. But, of course, that's what I should expect, after the past few months.   
  
Pursing my lips together, I looked up at the tree directly in front of me as a soft wind blew through the trees. At almost exactly the same time, I saw the air shimmer on top of one of the branches of the tree, one of the ones closer to the ground. After a moment, a figure with dark hair and face fixed in a ^_^ lounged on the branch casually.  
  
"It's about time," I said, a little shortly.  
  
"Now, now, Lina-chan," he said. "Is that any way to greet a friend of yours?"  
  
"It is when you make me sit out here for a half hour before deciding to show up. I don't know about you, but I LIKE getting some sleep at night."  
  
"Well, perhaps I could show up in the day if you have a real need to be so lazy..."  
  
"Lazy? You're the lazy one."  
  
"On the contrary, I'm quite busy."  
  
"Oh, with what? Annoying people?"  
  
His smile grew slightly. "Something like that, yes. One must get all of the required nutrition every day to be healthy, you know."  
  
"I didn't know you required certain things to feed on, Xellos."  
  
"I never told you, and I don't think any other Mazoku you've met bothered telling you something like that," he said calmly. "In any case, it's never been important."  
  
"Sure it has. You ticked us all of periodically. I can see now it had a pattern," I said. "But then, you made Filia pretty mad almost constantly."  
  
"Just a little extra snack," he said, his smile turning sly. "And it was fun watching her get so mad."  
  
"You know, I think she's still in therapy for that."  
  
"It's not my fault the former priestess Fi-chan never took anger management therapy," he protested. "And half the time it wasn't my fault. She just got mad because I wanted to travel with you."  
  
"I'll remember to tell her that next time I see her," I said dryly, crossing my arms.  
  
"Please do."  
  
"I'm almost certain she'll love hearing advice from you."  
  
"But of course, we ARE the best of friends after all," he said cheerfully.  
  
"Liar."  
  
"Now, now, Lina-chan, is that any thing to call me?" he asked with mock-hurt.  
  
"Well, you are."  
  
He opened an eye. I froze. He never did that unless he was very, very serious. "I do not lie," he said softly. "I manipulate, but I never lie. Never."  
  
There was a long, awkward pause, then he closed his eye again and said cheerfully, "So was there anything to wanted to talk about tonight, Lina-chan?"  
  
"Sore wa himitsu desu," I told him rather smugly.   
  
He tilted his head to one side. "Oh, really? Then I guess we don't need to talk tonight," he said. He started to shimmer.  
  
"No fair," I complained. "You always use that on me!"  
  
He disappeared from the tree and appeared right next to me on the boulder. "Because it's fun to see your reaction," he said from behind me.  
  
I jumped and turned. "Don't do that!"  
  
He pouted. "You're no fun. So what did you want to talk about?"  
  
I sighed. "Well, actually, I did have a question. But you're probably just going to shrug it off as a secret."  
  
"You'll never know unless you ask, will you?" he asked.   
  
"Fine. I was going to ask what did you mean by nutrition?"  
  
He looked surprised. "Well, we Mazoku need to stay healthy too, you know," he said.   
  
"I heard you say that the first time, Xellos. What did you mean by it?" I pushed. It was one of the few times he wasn't saying it was a secret.   
  
Xellos managed to look somewhat thoughtful while still keeping his ^_^ expression on his face. "Well. We must feed on a number of emotions daily in order to survive, of course, but you knew that. Well, we need certain kinds of emotions for health reasons."  
  
"Health reasons?" I asked blankly. "What, do you have doctors in case you get sick or something?"  
  
He wagged a finger. "Now, now, Lina-chan, sore wa himitsu desu. That's not what we're talking about here. You wanted to know about nutrition. In any case, we feed on different emotions every day as a requirement. The rest is for plain fun."  
  
"Fine. What kind of emotions, specifically?" I asked curiously.  
  
"Oh, anger is the most common, along with fear, so that's our absolute minimum for survival. They're a little bitter, though," he said, and made a face.  
  
I blinked. "You can taste emotions?" I asked.  
  
"In a sense. In any case, I think the best would be despair, hopelessness. It tastes so sweet, and humans love to dwell in it for some reason."   
  
"Melancholia, you mean? Yeah, I could see that," I said thoughtfully. "If I were a Mazoku, I'd think the first two you mentioned would taste fairly harsh since they ARE primitive feelings. And yeah, being melancholy and self-pitying does make one feel better about things. What about pain?"  
  
"That's melancholia with very strong spices," he said, and clapped his hands. "One of my favorites, actually, and Zel-chan happens to be the best source right now."  
  
I glared. "Are you still harassing him?" I demanded.  
  
"LINA-CHAN! I would never harass him!" he protested. "I'm just helping him go in the right direction to find a counter-curse to make him human again."  
  
"In other words, you're leading him in circles!" I said angrily.   
  
"Perhaps. You have to know, since the one who forced the change on him is dead now, he can't change back. There's no way."  
  
"Then why aren't you telling him that?!" I said.   
  
"Because hope has a nice taste to it if it's flavored with just a little frustration," he admitted. "Lina-chan, thank you for your concern, but I'm quite full now. You can stop being so angry..."  
  
I slapped him upside the head a couple times. "Stop harassing Zelgadis. He's had enough of you hanging around him."  
  
"I don't bother him THAT often, Lina. Only once a week. I can't get too addicted to it, after all. Hope is a little painful to swallow, you know."  
  
"Then you should make it once a year," I snapped.  
  
"Lina-chan, Lina-chan. Zel-chan DOES get lonely you know, since he's traveling all alone."  
  
I blinked. "I... thought Amelia was going with him," I said.  
  
He shrugged. "Who knows what happened?"  
  
"You do, probably."  
  
"Perhaps. In any case, he's alone now, and company does him good."  
  
Amelia... I wondered. Why did Amelia leave Zelgadis? Or did Zelgadis leave her and go off in the night again, like he'd done so often when we were all traveling with him?  
  
Xellos poked me in the arm. "Are you still there, Lina-chan?" he asked cheerfully. "You feel worried now. You know, being worried tastes... sort of like a strawberry with sugar on it."  
  
"How would you know? The only thing I've seen you eat is ice cream, and that would equal hopelessness, wouldn't it?" Despite my concern for Zel, the conversation was pretty interesting.  
  
"Exactly. Are you sure you don't want to become Mazoku? I could talk it over with my superiors, and I'm sure your sister could help on that..."  
  
I blanched. "Let's not talk about that."  
  
"If you wish." He shrugged.  
  
"What about positive emotions?" I asked to change the subject.  
  
"Mostly, they're the same, except hope and frustration mixed," he said with another shrug. "Very bitter, sour, or they make one just gag at the thought of it."  
  
"Like..." I prompted. "The worst would be something like happiness, wouldn't it? Or love?"  
  
"Yes..." He paused for a long moment. "Those are the worst tasting. The latter is enough to make a Mazoku be knocked out... unless, of course, the Mazoku is feeling it him or herself. Then they just get torn apart from the inside and go mad, but that's a different discussion."  
  
I paused. Did he just sound bitter? But he still looked so cheerful and careless. No, I decided, it couldn't have been bitterness... "So what else is there?" I asked.  
  
He watched me for a moment, then a sly grin replaced the cheerful one. "Well, of course there are the neutral emotions," he said slowly.  
  
"Neutral emotions? I didn't know there were neutral emotions," I said. "What are they?"  
  
"Do you really want to know?"  
  
"Yes, I do," I said impatiently. "Now are you going to tell me or not?"  
  
"Why don't I show you instead?"  
  
Before I knew it, I had fallen to the ground on my back and Xellos had rather effectively pinned me down tickling me in the ribs. I shrieked and tried to hit him, but of course that made his grin grow. I then started to desperately cast Fireballs in his general direction...  
  
Meaning, of course, that by the time Xellos finally gave and let me up the forest surrounding us was a pile of ashes.  
  
I hit him on the head again. It didn't really do anything to him, but it made me feel better. "And what was THAT about?" I demanded. "Haven't you ever heard of private space?!"  
  
"Involuntary emotions are the neutral ones," he explained calmly, as though I wasn't continuously hitting him. "They're not really 'emotions' of course, but we like to call them that to keep things simple."  
  
I glared at him, then went back and sat on the boulder again. "Why don't you just TELL me next time. I'm getting tired of your demonstrations," I said shortly.  
  
"Why, Lina-chan, you aren't mad at me, are you?" he asked. He almost sounded genuinely surprised.  
  
"Wow, he guessed correctly! Someone give him a prize!" I said.  
  
"Lina... Don't get mad at me. I can only take anger for so long. I'm starting to get a stomach ache," he complained, rubbing his stomach. "You don't want that for an old friend of yours, do you?"  
  
I sighed. He could be so annoying. "Then don't get me any more mad. If you don't watch what you say, I might get ticked off enough for a Dragon Slave. Or maybe I'll just find Amelia and bring her along with me. How would you like listening to the Princess of Justice?"  
  
He blanched slightly. I blinked. He normally didn't show so much emotion, especially not all in the same night. "Xellos, are you feeling alright?" I asked slowly. "You've been a little... off."  
  
"Like I said, I'm getting a stomach ache," he said, a little shortly.  
  
"No. Now that I think about it, you've been showing more and more emotion every time I see you," I said thoughtfully.  
  
He blinked. "I am, am I? I didn't notice that. I must be getting old," he said with a laugh and a hand behind his head.   
  
"Old and senile, right. Well, old man, why don't you tell me what's wrong? You've been on a talking streak for a while, so why not keep going?" I suggested.  
  
"Because, Lina-chan," he said seriously. He opened his eyes, both of them. Again I froze in place, unable to do anything but stare into those dark violet eyes. "If I told you that, some of my most dangerous secrets would be revealed. And I don't think either of us would like that."  
  
I bit my lip and slowly nodded. "Fine..."  
  
He stared at me for a long moment with those eyes still open, and for a precious instant or two I could see through him. I saw hidden anger and pain and regret flash across his face, and the bitterness I thought I'd detected from his speech earlier.  
  
What had he been talking about earlier? Oh yeah, something about a Mazoku going mad because he was in love.  
  
His eyes closed and he said, "Well, that's that I suppose. Perhaps I will visit again tomorrow night. After all, you need to be lazy and get some sleep." Before I could even blink, he disappeared.  
  
I stared, then glanced up at the tree he'd been in.   
  
"His most dangerous secrets?" I whispered. "What on earth does THAT mean?"  
  
After a while, I turned and headed back to camp, deciding to ask him another time.  
  
~*~ XELLOS ~*~  
  
I phased back in on the tree I'd been on earlier as Lina turned away and walked slowly back to her camp with Gourry. My eyes were fully open again as I watched her.  
  
/You should have killed her a long time ago,/ I thought to myself. /Then you wouldn't have to deal with this./  
  
But no, I'd let her live. I thought because I was a priest and general I'd be able to handle it. Because of that, I was slowly being torn apart from the inside. I was slowly going mad.   
  
/And my choices are limited,/ I thought. /Kill Lina, kill myself, or lose my powers... And I still have many things to do for my superiors before I can do any of those things. I suppose I'm stuck going mad./  
  
I grinned ironically at the thought. /So much for being an old, senile man. I'll be an old madman instead. Oh well, maybe being mad will be interesting.../  
  
I took one more good look at Lina, then started to phase out.  
  
/In the meantime, that doesn't mean I can't come back tomorrow.../  
  
~*~ 


End file.
